At the Conference of 17G5 it was resolved to issue from London one uniform society ticket of membership for all the societies. The first ticket so issued is dated February, 17GG. The tickets have been printed and sent out by the book-room ever since. At the same Conference it was recommended that in speaking to and of the members of society the words "brother" and " sister" should be uniformly used as far as practicable. Those terms are still used by the older preachers and members.
The Conference of 17G7 made a regulation that the same preacher shall not be sent above one year, never above two years, to the same circuit. The time has since been extended to three years. Once, by special request of the Bible Society, Dr. Adam Clarke was ap- pointed a fourth year to the same circuit. Preachers who have ceased to itinerate, that they maj' occupy ofiicial positions in the Connection, are appointed bj' the Conference to the duties for a period of six years, which may be renewed at the discretion of the Confer- ence. There are about eighty preachers located in of- fice.
The question was agitated in 1768, Are the Meth- odists Churchmen or Dissenters? To this Mr. Wes- ley replied, " We are neither the one nor the other, but irregulars." A centur/ later the same question was often asked, and answered in the same way. The po- sition Methodism is now taking in the religious world is one which is securing for it the character of a Church, independent of all others, complete in its organization.
and fast assuming a dominant place among the churches of Christendom.
In 17Gt) the Conference expressed its joy at hearing of the establishment of Jlethodism in America, and sent two of its preachers, Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor, to adjust the new societj-, and to convey to them a substantial proof of its sympathy.
The Conference of 1770 was a very memorable one in Methodism. To raise a defence against Antinomi- anism, IMr. Wesley published a series of eight proposi- tions respecting doctrine. These aroused a fierce con- troversy. Lady Huntingdon, Rev. Walter Shirley, and others using their most vigorous efforts against Mr. Wesley. Convinced that Mr. Wesley was right, all his preachers defended the propositions, and the Rev. John Fletcher wrote and iniblished his Checks to Antinomian- isin, a masterly work, in defence of the Arminian doc- trines of the jMethodists.
The Kev. George Whitefield died in America in the September of 1770, and Mr. Wesley preached his funeral sermon in both Mr. Whitefield's tabernacles in London.
The year 1777 was memorable in Methodism as that in which the foundation of Citj' Road Chapel was laid in London.
On Jan. 1, 1778, ]\Ir. Wesley issued the first number of tlie A rminian Ma(juzine, a work in defence of gen- eral redemption. It has appeared monthly without any interruption for oiie hundred and three j'ears, and is nearly the oldest serial magazine in England. Its price for thirty-two years was sixpence each issue ; in Janu- ary, 1811, the price was raised to one shilling monthly, and so continued till it had completed a century of years, when the price was again reduced to sixpence. Soon after Mr. Wesley's death the title was changed to Methodist Magazine, and in 1822 the Rev. Jabez Bun- ting, as editor, changed it again to Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, which it still retains. When there were but few magazines in England, its highest circulation was about twenty-six thousand monthly; in 1880 the circu- lation was only eleven thousand, but it has many rivals. It has been a source of much revenue to Metiiodism, and an able and powerful defender of its doctrines, agencies, and experience. Its pages are richly stored with valuable history, and instructive and precious bi- ography.
The Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke, an ordained clergyman who had joined Mr. Wesley in 1777, was sent by him to preside at the Irish Conference in 1782, and for nearlj' thirty j-ears continued to preside over their delibera- tions, his visits to that country being, on the whole, a great blessing to the people. In 1784 Dr. Coke trav- elled over England to examine the trust-deeds of the chapels, and to get them settled on the Conference plan.
The last day of February, 1784, was a memorable one in the histor}' of Methodism. To perpetuate the sys- tem of Methodism as it had been formulated bv the ex- perience of forty-three years, Mr. Wesley had drawn up a deed of declaration, which was enrolled in the Court of Chancer}^ by which one hundred ministers are to form the Annual Conference of Methodism, and the sur- vivors are to fill up all vacancies once a year. The deed limits the sittings of the Conference to not less than five, nor more than twenty-one, days, and by that deed Methodism may be perpetuated till the end of time. Several preachers whose names were not includ- ed in the first selected hundred took offence and left the Connection, among whom were John Hampson, senior and junior, and Joseph Pilmoor, who went to America and did useful work in the Church.
The Conference of 1784 fixed the time for a preacher to remain on trial at four years; it had been less. Soon after the Conference Mr. Wesley ordained Dr. Coke, and sent him out to America to be joint superintendent over the Methodist brethren in that country with Francis Asbury. lie also wrote and sent an important letter to the American societies, dated Bristol, Sept. 10, 1784, in which he embodied what to him seemed sufficient in-